
It has something for most professionals that are concerned with design and engineering. Who uses AutoCAD?ĭue to various features and toolsets present in AutoCAD, the application is used across various industries. It is often used alongside the Architecture toolset for complete building design. The MEP toolset is for creating and documenting MEP drawings for buildings using a library of more than 10,500 MEP components. To make it easy for you to design highly complex pipe routing and plant designs, this toolset comes with a library of more than 400 plant components such as equipment templates, support templates, and structural members. The plant 3D toolset enables you to design 2D and 3D piping and instrumentation diagrams which you can incorporate into a 3D plant model. The Electrical toolset includes a library of 65,000+ electrical symbols which, conform to various standards. Your drawings are organized in a project-based structure, in line with project standards. Electrical drawings like schematic diagrams are achievable using specialized tools. This toolset consists of features for electrical designs, that enable you to create, modify, and document electrical circuits and control systems. Instead of designing every component you require from scratch, you can significantly reduce your design efforts by using components from the AutoCAD mechanical library of over 700,000 parts and symbols. They also enable you to automate mechanical engineering processes such as dimensioning, generating machine parts, and creating bills of material. Its features help you create, modify, and document mechanical designs for manufacturing. This toolset is dedicated to DFM (Design For Manufacturing). Specialized tools enable architects to create building drawings such as floor plans, elevations, and sections.ĪutoCAD architecture has a library of 8000+ architectural components. Features available include walls, windows, and doors. Using this toolset, you can produce and document architectural designs, and also automate drafting tasks. This is the classic AutoCAD interface which allows you to design 2D drafts, produce 3D models, annotate drawings, and share file data AutoCAD ArchitectureĪs the name implies, the Architecture toolset is for the architecture industry.
AUTOCAD ELECTRICAL VS AUTOCAD FREE
There is also AutoCAD for students, a free limited version to help students learn CAD. This Lite version is less expensive and has less functionality than AutoCAD. There is also an entry-level, lite version of the AutoCAD known as AutoCAD LT.
AUTOCAD ELECTRICAL VS AUTOCAD SOFTWARE
In 2019, however, all these products were brought together as AutoCAD toolsets under a single comprehensive software package. These include AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD Plant 3D, AutoCAD Mechanical, AutoCAD MEP (Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing), and AutoCAD Electrical. In addition to AutoCAD, Autodesk developed several industry-specific AutoCAD products. It now includes features that cater to numerous industries that are related to design and engineering. Initially developed as a 2D drafting program for mechanical engineers, AutoCAD has expanded to become a complete package for most things design and modeling. AutoCAD 2020, the latest version of the software package, was released in 2019, marking the 34th release. It took the application just four years to become the most widely used CAD application a status which it still holds today. Also, the popular and widely accepted DWG file format was developed for AutoCAD. Before this, most individual designers had to rely on the error-prone drafting desk and T-square, as commercially available CAD applications could only run on mainframe and minicomputers. First of all, being one of the first CAD programs to run on PCs, AutoCAD instantly made CAD accessible to a lot of designers. The release of AutoCAD completely revolutionized the CAD industry. In 1982, AutoCAD as we know it was developed by Michael Riddle alongside 15 other co-founders, and released as the flagship product of Autodesk, the company which they founded that same year. However, these were the names that AutoCAD bore in the late 1970s. The names interact CAD and MicroCAD are virtually unknown in the world of CAD today.
